Ryan S. Gray

Gray obtained his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology in 2009. Gray completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, before returning as faculty in Pediatrics at the UT Austin-Dell Pediatrics Research Institute in 2015. 

Gray's research focuses on identifying the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the development and homeostasis of the spine and related musculoskeletal tissues. He has successfully used complementary approaches in mouse and zebrafish model systems to reveal processes important for spine disorders such as scoliosis.

The goal of Gray's research program is to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms of spine development and homeostasis using primarily mouse and zebrafish model systems. These complementary models provide distinct approaches for investigating musculoskeletal development and disease.

Gray developed conditional mouse models of (i) idiopathic scoliosis (IS) and intervertebral disc herniation by removing Gpr126/Adgrg6 function in osteochondral progenitors (Human Molecular Genetics, 2015; PLoS Genetics, 2019) and (ii) early-onset scoliosis through conditional ablation of Prmt5 function in the same progenitor cell type (Disease Models & Mechanisms, 2019). Together, these findings support a model for the essential role of cartilaginous tissues and the extracellular matrix, or "matrisome," in the pathogenesis of idiopathic scoliosis (Bone Research, 2019).

Gray has been at the forefront of establishing the zebrafish model system for the analysis of a variety of scoliosis pathologies, including congenital malformations (Developmental Biology, 2014) and idiopathic scoliosis (Development Dynamics, 2014; Developmental Biology, 2020). To promote gene discovery, his group established a forward genetic screen in zebrafish that isolated a novel collection of adult viable scoliosis mutants, which remain the focus of ongoing studies. To facilitate identification of the causative mutations in this collection, the group helped develop robust methods for rapid mapping and variant identification using modern genome sequencing (G3, 2017).

Studies from Gray's group have identified common mechanistic roles for scoliosis and hydrocephalus involving alterations in cerebrospinal fluid physiology (PLoS Genetics, 2018) and established a novel, essential role for the Reissner fiber, a cerebrospinal canal-resident protein component that regulates spine morphogenesis downstream of disrupted cerebrospinal fluid flow (Current Biology, 2020).

Gray continues to use a multi-tiered approach that combines zebrafish, mouse and cell culture models, informed by human genomic studies, to improve the diagnosis of pediatric musculoskeletal diseases and identify potential therapeutic interventions for these disorders.